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Examples Of Somorra

Decent Essays

In his conclusion, Riches reflects on the major themes of his text. This in particular includes the ideas that different people interpret texts differently for different reasons, the impact of the variety of authors on the Bible’s meaning, and the impact that the Bible on society and Western culture. One passage that is particularly interesting is, “texts have no control over the way they are read.” This motif repeats itself through history with many conflicting views of Biblical texts appearing through history. A great example of this was demonstrated in the in-class conference, where many of the people, who read the exact same text, yet had such different interpretations that they could read the same stories of Sodom and Gomorra and have such differing interpretations of the story, ranging from against homosexuality to the power of women. This quotation from Riches also demonstrates a fundamental oddity of the Bible, that a text that was intended for good can be interpreted in a way that causes destruction and oppression. This reaffirms a theme of this course, that the Bible is read by people in a way such that it is consistent with their worldview. People look to sacred texts to affirm that they are righteous, and that their worldview is consistent with holiness. This is how dualities of interpretations can be created. Again, a perfect example of this is the stories of Sodom …show more content…

Some read these stories to be against homosexuality because of small passages, asserting their views against homosexuality as right, and others interpret the stories as warnings against cruelty, affirming their worldview that no one should be

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